Coffee Break is a Christian devotional that is intended to help you in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ... and if you don't have a relationship with Him, we want to help you find out how to have one.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

"The Right Weapon"

"Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him." Mark 5:4

Our verse this morning comes from the story of the maniac of Gadara. His condition is described here- he lived among the tombs, he cut himself with stones, he was naked, and so on. It also tells us that the people had tried to bind him with chains but were unable to- he would always break the chains and fetters. Why couldn't the chains hold him? Why did their efforts fail? It was because the man had a "spiritual" problem- he was demon possessed- and the people were trying to handle this problem through "natural" means. The point I want to bring out through this story is that you cannot handle spiritual problems by natural means.

We tend to try to solve our problems through natural ways because when we have a problem we only see the "physical" manifestation of the problem- like this maniac. The people saw his actions, they saw his lifestyle, they saw his self-destructive behavior, so they dealt with what they "saw". Not every problem we have can be solved by natural means. Many of our problems have their "root" in the spiritual realm- like this maniac. If it's a spiritual problem it has to be dealt with through spiritual means. That's why Jesus said that some things come not but by prayer and fasting. That is why we have been given spiritual armor- because we fight spiritual battles. We have weapons of warfare that are not carnal- fleshly, natural- but are mighty to even pull down strongholds.

Why is it when problems come that we often fight a losing battle? Why aren't we always victorious? One reason is that we are using the wrong weapons to solve it. When you have a problem, the first thing you need to do is trace it back to the root. Find out if the root is a natural one (for example, the root may be the result of a bad choice you made and now you are facing the consequence), or if the root is a spiritual one (for example, the root maybe a spirit of fear, an attack of the enemy or a pride issue, etc.). Once you determine the root of the problem, then you have to solve it with the right kind of "weapon"- if it's spiritual use spiritual weapons; if it's natural use natural weapons. Natural weapons will not work in a spiritual battle, no more than the chains worked to bind this demon possessed maniac.